Mumbo: An Odd Story
by Capamericant
Summary: Learn the history of Ringler island and the weird happenings that go on around the city, from since it was founded as its own entity. There is a lot of stuff; best part about this is that i have no outline for the story; I have no outline for this story
1. The Night Rush

**Chapter 1: The Night Rush**

We go to an island much like…well, some would say Gotham, but it's actually slightly better than Gotham; there's no Joker, no actual Rogues Gallery. Let's call this island Ringler island. It is its own entity entirely because of all the weird happenstances on the island.

We open on a trio of people: the first of that trio is a small, blonde, pigtailed girl, who is no more than 10 years of age, with bright green eyes, wearing an oversized t-shirt as pajamas. one arm can be completely seen the other only up to where the elbow should be is has a silver heart locket on, similar to the one the woman sitting on the bed possesses.

The little girl is sitting in a bed with a woman who would appear to be her mother and the second of our trio. She has brown, neck-length hair that appears to have glitter stuck in it from a previous day. She is wearing a black, buttoned-up trench coat that goes down to her ankles, a doctor's mask that can be seen covering her mouth, and electric grey eyes. She is reading a story from a small stack of papers to the little girl.

The third member of this trio can be seen on the wall; a dark figure can be seen sitting not on the bed, but rather on the shadow of the bed, since he cannot be seen physically on it. They seem inhumanly tall, even when sitting. Their "eyes" can be seen: two hollow holes where eyes are expected to be. They seem content simply sitting and listening to the woman's story.

"A very, very, very, Very long time ago, around when our stars were just beginning to ignite, great being made of stardust and void emerged who we would call celestials, By now many have died or have simply given up on their existence. In the beginning there was peace among all of them, but the so-called "King" of the celestials grew very bored very quickly and eventually corrupted himself; he became chaos. His wife, we will call her The Moon, had resented her husband's boastful nature. He was always on about how much brighter he was compared to the other celestials. Although it was no secret she resented him, he did not attack her. Instead, he feigned fearfulness of her to make it seem that she was the one to be feared and resented instead of him. After an un- approximated amount of time had passed-"

"That wasn't very nice of him." Stated the little girl.

"Indeed it wasn't. May I please keep reading?" The mother asked.

"Yea! Yes!" Exclaimed the little girl, startling the shadow being next to her.

"Sorry V!" The little girl apologized.

V simply nodded in response.

The woman continued: "After an un-approximated amount of time had passed, Chaos' influence had spread to the other celestials, turning them into horrible beasts. Many of the beasts petrified long ago, forming what we now call our solar system. Chaos placed himself in the center, feeling that he belonged there and needed to keep watch over his domain. When he did, The Moon received her chance to flee to her "Sister Celestial" who later became Earth, and The Moon became what she is today, influencing our tides and granting us respite from Chaos' angry rays."

"Is that all?" The little girl pouted.

"For now. I still need to write down what i can remember of the story. Now, time for bed. I will see

you in the morning. Goodnight Casie" the mother said while cleaning up her papers and

heading towards the door.

V, the shadowy figure on the wall, vanished from sight as Mom flipped the light switch off. They reappeared in the lit hallway where the mother was currently walking to her room to finish getting ready for work.

" _You shouldn't go out tonight Ayla"_ V said, more telepathically than actually spoken.

"I know. I feel the change too, but I have to maintain some sense of normalcy in my life.

Please watch over Casie while I'm gone." Ayla asked while putting the last bit of makeup on

her face.

" _I would've anyway. But I can understand your worry tonight"_ V said while playing with the

shadow of a tassel hanging off a lamp, causing the actual tassel to move.

"Thank you V. How do I look?" She asked, gesturing to her face.

" _Like you work on a stage, which you do and should rush to before it gets any later. And_

 _you're welcome."_ V said, looking at Ayla. Neither V nor Ayla knew how she knew when he

was looking at her.

" _Have fun!"_ V waved.

Ayla dashed out the door, leaving V alone in the apartment with a sleeping Casie.

V decided to wander around.

The apartment wasn't big: there was a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom with a bathtub/shower, a toilet, and a sink. There was also a mirror. Because the apartment was right above the lobby of the complex, laundry day was much easier than it would be if they were up a few more floors. However, because they were lower, the street was closer, which meant sleep was impossible once the work rush began. Other than that, the elementary school wasn't very far, there were a few bars and diners around that were cheap enough for nights when Ayla didn't feel like cooking. This complex would be even better if it weren't so close to Downtown, which was just a few blocks away.

Ayla's job is right between Midtown and Downtown at a club called "Downtown of Midtown". She works as a dancer and sometimes a bartender. Despite its location, it was the safest place one could possibly be. Local gangs had called a truce there making it a "safe space"; business matters cannot be discussed inside its doors. The people who work there are known well-enough that if they were to have to break up a fight between two opposites, most would automatically stop because no one wanted the manager on their tails for harming an employee.

The manager is actually the owner of the place, but she felt uncomfortable being called "the Owner" so she went with "the Manager". She's a nice woman with both arms covered in complete tattoo sleeves and bright blue hair. When her hair is down from its usual ponytail it reaches the middle of her back, and when it was up she had a bandanna on to keep her shorter hair out of her face. For some reason, when people try to manipulate her into doing something they always seem to walk away with a smile like nothing ever happened.

As soon as Ayla walks in the door of the club she hears someone call to her and she turns around.

"AYLA" Penelope, the Manager, runs up to Ayla, breathing heavily. "I need you behind

the bar tonight. Is that okay?" Penelope says between breaths.

"Yea I can do that. Are you okay?" Ayla asks, bending down to Penelope's current height

while her hands are on her knees in an attempt to regulate her breathing.

"I'm *huff* fine *huff*" she barely manages to get out.

"No, stop that. You need to stand up straight and put your arms up behind your head. It'll

help" Ayla instructs.

"Stop momming me. I'm older than you by like a decade." Penelope says, breathing much

better after following Ayla's instructions.

"Uh-huh. Alright. I am going to go change and I will be right out to help set up" Ayla says as

she walks to the lockers.

When Ayla exits the locker room she is wearing what is basically a Playboy Bunny suit minus the cotton tail or ears. Because she is well-known to most regular patrons, she doesn't have to remove the doctors mask.

As Aylas begins setting up, she hears the door open and three pairs of feet walk in and stop right in front of the bar where she is. She looks up to see three girls standing in a line from tallest to shortest; It's the three android sisters: Maxine, Laverne, and Patty.

Maxine is the tallest, standing at 5'11", she has black hair in a pixie cut and wears a bomber jacket, some green cargo pants, and combat boots. The next sister, Laverne is 5'5", has orange, shoulder-length hair and bangs that cover her eyes. She is wearing a nice black and white, sleeveless button up top, but the bottom half of her looks like a half- assed attempt at steampunk with vertical striped brown leggings, combat boots, and a really weird mullet skirt with two buckles helping to keep the front of the skirt up. The last sister, Patty, stands at 4'9" and is wearing a simple white tank top, blue shorts and flip flops. Each sister has a pleasant smile on their face.

They all wave hello before heading off to their dressing rooms. They are the opening act, and they can sing in near perfect harmony with one another. Their arrival can only mean one thing:

It is the beginning of night rush.


	2. A History Lesson pt 1

**Chapter 2: History lesson**

 **PREPARE FOR SOME REALLY HISTORICALLY INACCURATE STUFF**

Long ago, before Ringler Island was even a thought, the island was made up of colonies. Though the island was inhabited by mainly flora and fauna, the colonies flourished on their own.

During one colony's journey there, one family was considered to be the strongest and most intellectual of the families, and because of this, they were picked to be the community leaders. The family was made up of a mother, father, three girls, and two boys. Each were as healthy as the time, and their social class, permitted. They were seen as the strongest because all of the children had survived farther than any other children in the community and were, on the outside at least, fearless about going to a new world.

Clemence Baker, the youngest of the girls, was about 11 years of age. She had brown hair that went down to her shoulders and stunning green eyes. She and her brother were the troublemakers of the family; they were deeply loved anyway.

Francis Baker, the youngest of the two boys, was about 10 years of age. He had dirty blond hair that was long enough to cover his ears and chilling blue eyes. He had been told he would have his pick of the girls when he was older, but he paid no mind and would simply nod and continue playing with Clemence.

Marion Baker, the middle child, was 13 years old. She, like her brother Francis, had dirty blonde hair. However, unlike her brother, she had glowing brown eyes. During her time she had become the oddball of the family. She showed no interest in any of the boys around, and instead of participating in what was considered "normal" activities, she enjoyed wandering around and losing herself in the sky.

The eldest boy, Edmund Baker, at 14 years was scrawny and very sickly looking, but showed no symptoms of any sort of illness, so no one felt the need to worry. He had light brown hair that covered his eyes. Not many people saw his eyes because of this, and he left everyone wondering how he got around with hair like his. Some people have seen him wandering around in the blackness of night without bumping into anything.

The eldest daughter, and child overall, Susanna Baker, was already to be courted by a boy named Edgar. His family was also considered for leadership and were the second strongest in the group. Susanna had dark brown hair with mesmerizing green eyes. Despite the courtship that had been set in place, Susanna spent most of the time helping her father gather supplies for their settlement.

The parents of the family were Christine and Erik Baker. They were loving, but also strict, which is to be expected of parents in the 1600's. Christine had dirty blonde hair that was mostly brown at the roots and it was always up in a bun or a braid. She also had the most beautiful brown eyes. Erik on the other hand had light brown hair that was a little past his shoulders and had sparkling green eyes.

When the island was first populated, the small community had decided that they wanted to focus on building community more that religion, so they built their homes and farms first, followed by the common house (which was to be used for meetings). Building these structures took a few months of hard work, but everyone was content with what they had done. Well, nearly everyone that is.

Minister Sprout was angry that no one had been faithful and joined him for the Sunday Sabbath. Minister sprout was a fairly chubby man with greying hair. He wore glasses over his piercing brown eyes and was never seen without his ministry , unfortunately, was widowed before they had left to the new land, and all of his children had been married off to decent families, so he went on in life as a lonely, bitter minister.

When the next Monday rolled around Minister Sprout decided to pay a visit to the Baker family's home. He planned to request that they begin steering toward building a religion in the community now that their village was structurally complete. He knocked on the door, and waited politely. After a few seconds, Christine opened the door and smiled. "Good morning Minister Sprout! What can I help you with this fine morning?" Christine was always smiling, and it never failed to amaze the minister. "I would like to speak with your husband. Is he home?" Sprout wanted to get this done as quickly as possible so that he could return civility to the community. "He's right the-" Minister Sprout was suddenly met with Clemmence and Francis pushing past him and sprinting toward something behind him. When he turned around to see where the children were headed, his eyes stumbled across Erik and Susanna carrying firewood and some flowers. He couldn't help but scoff. "Excuse me minister, but why did you just scoff at the sight of my daughter?" Sprout quickly changed the subject when he finally found who he was looking for. "Goody Baker-" "Oh, hello Minister Sprout! What brings you here today?" Erik asked as he also caught sight of the minister.

Erik and Susanna had finished their duties and placed the wood into the pile. Susanna entered the house with her freshly picked flowers and Christine quickly followed her.

"Goodman Baker I think-" "Please come in" Erik asked, and Minister Sprout quickly obliged. "Goodman-" "Please, call me Erik! We've known each other long enough I think." Sprout shot Erik an incredulous look that made it seem as if Erik had just committed murder. However, Sprout quickly shrugged it off and remembered his reason for visiting. "Goodman Baker, we as a community have become too lethargic and casual around each other. We need some sort of routine throughout the week to keep everyone on task. For instance, if we hold a mandatory sermon every Sunday, we can keep our community pure and our people sin-free. Besides, with all of the construction going on we have been severely lacking in teaching and enforcing the good word of the Lord. If you want proof then you need not look any further than your own family. Your daughters run and play like the boys when they should be practicing their homemaking skills! And-" Erik stopped him there and shot a look that had him slightly cowering in fear. "Sprout, I will talk to you father to father rather than man to minister. Clemence and Marion are only children, and while they do learn their necessary homemaking skills when they arrive home at dusk, they still need to have the freedom to run and play to their heart's content. Susanna Is working with Christine to take care of the littluns in our community, and she is only here all of the time because she is helping Edgar, who is helping his father build more farms and store houses, all things that you could benefit from. The families of the community, including mine, see no need for a mandatory sermon to be held every Sunday. However, you are more than welcome, and always have been, to hold your sermons for everyone to join by choice.

"The common house is not a house of god"

Sprout sneered.

Erik sighed.

"When we as a community are sure that we can survive here we will build your church, but for now we must prepare for the coming winter. We don't know of the condition here so I suggest you do the same Goodman Sprout"

"Be it then"

Sprout grumbled when he walked out of the house.

*Months later*

Winter had come and passed, few perished during this time, mostly the elderly had passed, and their grieving period came and went just the same. During the winter, the hunters were able to catch some bigger game for their village, because they too were looking for sustenance.

On a morning most like any other, Minister sprout was overseeing the construction of his church when Edgar had come up to him with a question.

"Minister sprout?"

"Yes Edgar? What is it?"

"I want to talk to you about some things that i've seen happening around the village at night."

Sprout stared at him blinking a few times.

"What have you seen?"

"At night when the moon gets to its highest point, I see lights, candles maybe, moving around outside of the windows, with dark figures following them, there is always seven of them."

"Hmm. That is strange, as far as i know there isn't any seven member fami-... hmmm"

"What is it minister? Have you come up with an idea?"

"Yes. How much do you know about our betrotheds family?"

"As much as anyone else sir, if you are thinking what I think your thinking… y- you're wrong, they are a good family and they wouldn't stoop to that level, forget I had said anything we have just had good luck with our island."

"Son, they could dangerous; unfortunately I cannot go up to the courthouse without evidence… thank you for bring this up to me son."

"Minister n- dammit"

*A few hours later*

Erik and some of the other men and some boys had just come back to the village after hunting, bringing back two stags and some fish from a local lake; when he was approached by their elected Judge, Judge Dredd; being followed my Minister Sprout. He didn't have a good feeling about this.

"Goodman Baker I would like a word with you when you are finished."

"Judg-"

"Minister calm yourself"

Sprout silenced himself.

Judge Dredd may have looked like an imposing man but he was very nice and was patient with most people, as long as he felt he had a reason to trust them. That being said he was at the end of the patience rope with Sprout. Sprout looked almost like a child standing next to Dredd

Erik walked over to where the two other men were standing and greeted them both.

"If we could Goodman Baker, I- we would like to talk to you somewhere private."

"Of course, My home should be empty, the children are at their lessons and Christine is at Goody Martins home."

"Very well. Lead the way."

All three men walked the way to Eriks house. He could feel the anger radiating off of Minister Sprout; and the worry waving off of Dredd. He felt some anxiety begin to prick up.

When they reached the home Erik let the two men in and they each took a seat at the dinner table, Dredd at the head with erik and Sprout on either side. Here, Sprout looked nervous.

"Would you like to tell me why we have gathered here today?" Erik asked; he was side- eying Sprout.

Dredd stayed silent for a moment, he looked like he was trying to place his words in the right order.

"Y- Yes, you see, Minister sprout, came up to the courthouse earlier today, around when you and the other men had just left, claiming to have evidence that your entire family was full of-"

"I- I never said the entire family!" Sprout defended, looking paler than before.

Dredd looked at Sprout, sprout stopped talking.

"He said that your family was full of… uh… _witches_."

The moment after Dredd had uttered that word it got colder as clemence and her brother walked through the door, despite it being a decent temperature, Sprout and Dredd both got goosebumps.

"Hello daddy!"

Clemence came rushing into hug her father, Erik smiled and picked her up as he caught her, Francis came rushing in after her.

Both Dredd and Sprout left immediately.


	3. A History Lesson pt 2

History Lesson Pt.2

It's been months since the Bakers encounter with both Dredd and Sprout; during that time Dredd has been trying to keep Sprout from telling the whole village about what they witnessed and felt. The Bakers on the other hand had somehow become more popular with everyone. The village had hardly experienced any disgruntlement from any of its residents, everyone was content.

Later in time word had reached them from the next land over, with talks of witches, and the brave hunters, or the victims of the witch attacks outing their torturer. All of this chatter of the ugliness occuring had seemingly broken the peaceful environment, as hard as the Bakers tried they couldn't fix it. Sprout had an idea but he would need the help of Dredd to enact it. Late into the night Sprout walked silently to the judges home.

*knock knock*

After a few moments Sprout could hear shuffling from behind the door. He was met with the face of a disgruntled Dredd.

"what do you want?"

Sprout took a step back, allowing about an arms length of space between them both.

"I need your assistance with a plan I have. I wish to reveal the truth to our neighbors, about the Bakers."

Dredds eyes widened at what the other man had just said. He glanced around outside of his home for a moment, and then pulled Sprout into his home, making him start sputtering in surprise. Dredd began to speak.

"Do you wish to reign terror down on us? On our neighbors? All because of a poorly timed breeze?"

Sprout decided that this was his moment to fully convince Dredd. He ignored the first part if what he said.

"it was not a poorly timed breeze Dredd! There wasn't a breeze or any wind that day! The trees would have swayed, and they did not. I am convinced that our lovely Bakers aren't here in the good name of the lord, but here to do the devils work, we as a community have been far to complacent in these past few months. No fights? Not even a small squabble between children? I haven't had anyone confess to me in months Dredd, that shouldn't be possible for a human being."

Dredd had just been staring at him the whole time he was talking. Sprout noticed how Dredds eyes were somewhat glossy. He thought back to a few months ago at the Baker home and he remembered how the judges eyes were clear.

"You're under their spell aren't you Dredd? Dredd I will save you and our neighbors from those- those _**witches**_."

In that moment he felt a chill run up his spine, he turned around, and saw an owl staring at him through the window on the door. He heard a creak come from behind him it was Dredd he was walking back to his bed completely silent. Sprout left the house quickly, and quietly mumbled,

"May god help us all"

 **The next day**

Sprout had spent the whole night thinking about how he could break the spell on his neighbors. He had an epiphany everyone acted normal when there was a disruption, like when the news of witches reached them. He decided that he had to cause trouble; it was for the good of his neighbors of course, he had to save their souls from the demons known as the Bakers.

 **With the Bakers**

Clemence and Francis usually played together; lately they rarely left the others side. But Clemence wouldn't be found with Francis on this day, and Marion couldn't be found daydreaming. They would be found in the forest with their oldest sister Susanna, and mother Christine; they were on the hunt for herbs for their soup that night, or at least the ALL would be if Marion had wandered off, but none of the other three worried, Marion was more than capable of finding her way back to the village. Clemence was working the fastest of the three, she wanted to get back home and tell her father of what she saw last night.

"Clemmence? What troubles you? You usually like taking your time. I know you like it out here."

Clemmence glanced up from her patch of green to look at her mother.

"Nothing troubles me mommy im just excited for this soup tonight, we haven't had it in a loooong time."

Clemence smiled, her mother lightly laughed and nodded, going back to her searching. Susanna walked over to where her younger sister was crouched.

"I know what you saw, and these are dangerous circumstances we find ourselves in Clemmence, we must be on our guard so that Sprout does not surprise us."

They both looked to their mother who appeared to be listening to the forest surrounding them. She then gracefully stood up, herbs in hand and gently pushed some loose strands of dirty blonde hair back into her bonnet; she began walking as she deposited the herbs in her apron.

"Lets go girls, we have work to do back at the house, and we must find Marion along the way"

While Christine, Susanna and Clemmence walked back, Susanna took a moment to think about their situation, Sprout wasn't wrong about the family being mostly witches; but they weren't hurting anyone. They drew their power from nature, not from the dark forces, they protect the village the best they could, sometimes mother nature couldn't be bargained with. Even with their mother being a child of the Earth, a dryad. Sometimes they couldn't stop the hottest days or the coldest. Susanna was sure her parents noticed that all of them were growing stronger, just last night she had been able to look through Dredds and an owls eyes perfectly; and Clemmence, while just beginning to figure out what her abilities were, had been able to see the exact same conversation Sprout had tried to have with Dredd; and Marions visions of the future have proved right so far. Each of the boys were growing stronger too, Edmund has been successful in borrowing abilities from animals like clarity in the night, he hasn't needed a candle the last few times they had a night outing; and Francis, sweet Francis he's been playing trick on Sprout without him noticing, so maybe he's inherited his mother's camouflage.

Deep in her thoughts she hadn't noticed Marion run towards the group. She began to shout,

"MOTHER, SISTERS! STOP WALKING"

They stopped, allowing marion to catch up to them and allowing her to regain her breath. Christine worridly looked over Marion, none of them had ever heard her yell before, so it was quite a surprise and a bit worrying.

"Marion what is wrong!? I thought you were with us in the forest why did you run from the village?"

Christine was beginning to sound as worried as she looked, the group could sense the tension that followed Marion through the air. They soon heard the sounds of Edmund and Francis running towards them, both having a frantic look in their eyes.

Susanna began to speak,

"What's wrong? Brothers please tell us"

"It's Sprout! somehow he's turned the village against us, raving about how we are here to destroy their souls and release the devil!? I don't even know any demons! How would I do that?!"

Clemmence had to shush Edmund before he got any more hysterical, Susanna moved Clemmence so that she could calm Edmund down, that just left Francis for her to talk to,

"Francis? What's going on? Did you see daddy?"

After a few more moments of Francis catching his breath he began to speak drawing the attention of everyone there,

"w-when- dad told me and Edmund to run as soon as the village showed up at home… I *huff* asked why and all he said was... "witch hunt"... then Edmund grabbed my hand and we ran.

Francis began to cry, and Marion began to speak,

"Sprouts leading them, he's using the darkness within everyone to manipulate everyone to see us as the villains, he wants them to destroy us, but i saw a possibility, that they won't succeed in their task."

Susanna began to think about the last several days where no one had really seen sprout come out from his home, she remembered Marion mumbling about the bad omens from her visions; the were crows flying away in flocks, poison ivy was rapidly growing, and their father had seemed weaker, the strongest in their family, the unbreakable bond between the family and the coven back in england, susanna realized that her world was crumbling around her, the darkness that lives around everyone, everything was threatening to swallow her up so that she wouldn't have to feel the pain of her hitting rock bottom; she denied it the pleasure of her soul and flesh she would fight for the small glimmer of hope for her family's fate.

Clemmence sat herself down on a nearby tree stump and sat a still crying francis down next to her, she thought of what she saw that night, and of how susanna knew she had seen it.

"she must have sensed me"

Clemmence said to herself.

"w-what are you talking ab-about clem? W-who sensed you"

Francis asked managing to calm himself down enough to speak.

"Susanna; we both saw Sprout trying to talk to Dredd, but she intervened and put Dredd to sleep before any progress could be made, which I suppose made this outcome happen even more suddenly"

Clemmence explained what she saw and that she felt a presence which she just assumed was susanna after their conversation this morning. She looked away from her brother to look at the rest of her family, she sees her mother looking over Edmund as he tries to stop crying, Marion is staring off into the distance towards the village with a grim look on her face, and Susanna looks lost. Susanna turns to where Clemmence is, and for a moment Clemmence could swear she saw a shadowy figure around Susanna, but it was quickly whisked away when she quickly turned toward the village where the sound of yelling could be heard as it was getting closer every minute.

"Okay my loves, it is time to go"

Christine grabbed edmund and Susanna's hands, Clemmence and Francis glanced at one another and quickly got up to join the others in their partial circle.

Christine started to let her Glamour fade away from her person as the mob grew nearer, her skin turning a reddish brown to match many of the surrounding trees, Francis started to do the same; but he had no twigs growing from his body like his mother. Christine started to lead them all further into the woods, as they made it past the thickest of the tree line, the shouts of the villagers could be heard saying,

"They've retreated, but we have one of them."

 **A few days later**

The remaining Bakers had been hiding in the forest among a clump of redwoods that they considered their haven, they'd come here many times during the night, sometimes even the day, to come make an offering to Mother Nature, now they asked for guidance for what they were to do to protect themselves from the villagers who they once called friends. They received no answer.

They all felt a sudden intense weight lift from themselves when Erik had died, it felt like part of themselves died along with him. Edmund wondered if the coven in England could feel his father's passing, or if they even cared. Susanna wondered if her life would be whole again after this; she wondered of she could just make herself forget that this ever happened. Christine thought of nothing since her husband died she felt emptiness within her threatening to consume her, but she knew she couldn't let that happen to herself, she had to look after her family. For the last few days, every night she left to go see what progress the villagers had made through the forest, she had made of harder for them since Erik died; placing thorny bushes in their way, making the poisonous plants look like normal herbs so that no one noticed until too late, hû she could spend too much energy doing that, she had to maintain the field around their _haven_ none of sprouts followers could see where they were, but her family could. Clemmence noticed every time her mother left, and she watched as she walked off into the darkness of the forest, Clemmence used her time while her siblings were asleep to practice, she saw that she was getting better at maintaining her abilities to the point where they could be used for a whole day if she wanted. Both Francis and Marion dreamed of a reality where none of this had happened, where they would wake up the next day to see their father getting ready to go out for the day.

After a couple of hours when Clemmence could hear her her mother coming back to their _haven_ , but she wasn't walking, she was running. Hearing the fast footfalls Clemmence quickly got up to wake Susanna and Edmund, shen then went to wake Marion and Francis, who had ended up holding each other in their sleep, both getting up in time for everyone to see Christine rush and stumble into their hideout.

"We must go. NOW!"

Christine was holding her side and gasping as if she was injured.

"Why? What happened momma?" Edmund asked.

Susanna cut in between Edmund and their mother.

"We can't keep running mom, if we keep on now… we'll never stop. I don't want to live that way. I don't want to live in fear for the rest of my life, we need to confront the villagers, now; instead of running."

Susanna looked her mother dead in the eyes when she spoke. Christine closed her eyes, breathed, and mumbled a few words incoherently under her breath, then she too mde eye contact with susanna, seeing all the hope and joy gone from her eyes. Those feeling had been replaced with a void that seemed to churn deep beneath the surface of what could be seen, it almost seemed to reach out to Christine as she walked closer; but she stopped herself, shaking her head, shaking a few leafs from her hair loose.

Christine began to speak to Susanna, the others shifting nervously away from the two

"What have you unlocked within yourself my dear? Where did your zeal go, I used to tell your fa-"

"FATHERS DEAD,"

It began to grow colder.

"HE DIED BECAUSE OF THOSE DAMN- FUCKING _humans_ ,"

Susanna's voice grew deeper as her skin began to turn to a dull pink, until it finally reached grey.

"I always knew that they should have always been under a complacency spell the moment we stepped onto that damned boat to get to this fucking island." Susanna began to sob, she slowly knelt to the ground with her hands covering her face.

Christine knelt down to Susannas level so that they could meet eyes again, she saw nothing but sorrow and the void from before, but not as strong. She pressed her forehead against Susanna's, both letting tears fall freely from their eyes.

"Mo-momma, we have to go. I can hear them, the villagers. They've nearly closed in on us."

Edmund whispered this, afraid to further upset either, but clearly more worried about them all surviving the night. Clemmence begins to speak up.

"I know where we can hide, where they can't touch us! Just let me-"

"No, Susanna's right we can't just let the villagers and sprout force us into hiding, we were sent her to protect them, and we shall do our duty.

Christine cut off Clemmence, there was an odd look in her eyes but clemmence couldn't place what it was, having not ever seen the emotion. She, Francis, and Marion all traded glances behind Edmund. Despite wanting to flee the three of them knew that if they ran they would always be running from humanities darkness, they decided to help ther mother and the emotional Susanna,Christine helped Susanna up from her position Edmund stayed behind them all when they began to walk towards the entrance of their hideout. As they approached the trees, they began to part allowing them to pass through they could see the light from the villagers torches in the distance.

Christine turned around to face Clemmence, Francis, and Marion, causing them to stop where they were. Christine began to speak,

"Everything will be fine, we just have to have hope, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with each other, and we will become an impenetrable wall of light that will defeat the villages collective darkness, and _everything_ will go back to normal."

She smiled, it was just a bit too wide to be perceived as comfortable, showing just a bit too many teeth, her skin made creaking noises from her bark-like skin being pulled around the corners of her mouth.

"Lets move on" christine said turning and rejoining susanna. They walked on, and the other four got a chill down their spines.

When they reached the tree line, they all spit up into two groups, Francis, Clemmence, and Endund in one, and Christine, Susanna, and Marion in the other. Edmund brought Francis and Clemmence back further into the woods, he mumbled something about a bad plan. They found a tree stump, Edmund picked Clemmence up and placed her on the stump, he then did the same to Francis; He then knelt down to their eye level, and began to speak to them,

"I'm going to leave you two here, it's safer here than it will be with momma and Susanna, I-... I can't lose either of you," he had tears in his eyes "so before you say anything I beg of you please listen to me." He turned his head away and sniffed, he was beginning to sound congested.

"I promise i will see both of you soon." he gave a reassuring smile to Clemmence and Francis. The he turned and left in the direction of Christine and Susanna.

An hour passed; it felt like the quietest eternity.

"This doesn't feel have to go to them." clemmence spoke. She sounded more sure of this than she has ever with anything else she had ever said.

"Y-you're crazy, E-Edmund will come back with mommy, susanna, and marion, im sure of it." Francis was beginning to cry, hot tears slid down his pale face; he was trying his hardest not to cry, his lungs began to betray him though, forcing him to take deep choppy breaths. He felt Clemmence adjust herself so that she was able to hug him.

"I'm scared too Francis, but we have to do something, they all should have been back by now. You'll be safe here if you choose to stay, but if you decided to follow I would appreciate it." Clemmence got up, fixed her skirt so that the bark she was playing with for the last hour was off of her skirt and in the grass. She looked at Francis one last time before she walked into the direction that Edmund had.

She walked and walked until she saw the yellow glow of the torches from the villagers, it was mostly quiet except for the obvious sounds of muffled yelling and the loud screaming of who Clemmence figured was Minister Sprout. She found a tall tree near the tree line and climbed it so that she could see what was going on better. When she got to her destination Clemmence looked around at the clearing, there was a decently sized body if water and a giant rock that looked like a stage, sprout was on it preaching, many of the villagers were surrounding him. She began to look for her siblings and mother, she started to cry at what she saw; her mother was on the ground, wet, and motionless, She saw Susanna with her mouth stuffed with some cloth, a blindfold, and both of her wrists and ankles were bound together,and Edmund was bound in a similar way minus the blindfold, marion was nowhere to be seen. Susanna was kicking in the direction of where she thought her mother's body was, trying to get away, she might have if she wasnt bound to a knocked out Edmund.

Clemmence couldn't figure out what to do, she wasn't as powerful as her mother, or even as her father was, she wasn't like her sister, she wasn't as useful as marion, she even thought that Francis' and Edmunds abilities were more useful than hers. All she could do was create some mirrors. But she decided that she needed to try to save her family. She began to hear a rustling at the bottom of her tree, she looked for the source.

She found Francis attempting to climb up. She positioned herself so that she wouldn't fall, motioned for him to give her his hands, when he did she helped him up by pulling him as he basically walked up the side of the tree. When he got up there he saw what she did, he shook his head as if he was shaking his tears away.

Both looked over to where a loud commotion had started to sound, it was Marion, she was fighting against the villagers as they dragged her towards the pond, Sprout was standing on the rock overlooking the villagers, as if he were a king looking over his dominion. Judge Dredd stood next to the rock, as if he was protecting sprout. Marion was screaming.

Francis and Clemmence both got down from the tree and moved closer to where the large group was. The screaming was getting louder, the pond was closer to the tree line than Clemmence had expected. They would have to be even more careful. Clemmence and Francis were moving smoothly through the bushes until Marion yelled a cohesive sentence.

"W-WAIT PLEASE DON'T DO THIS, I-I CAN TELL YOU WHAT WILL HAPPEN, I CAN SEE INTO THE FUTURE. SURELY THAT MUST BE USEFUL TO YOU?"

Marion was crying. And struggling to get her hands away from the villager behind her.

"Watch as she pleads for her life, where were those pleas when we were taking your mother. Even your dear brother Edmund disobeyed your mother to come here, and yet u still didn't scream when we knocked him out? You don't care."

With the end of that sentence Marion looked in the direction of where Clemmence and Francis were and screamed,

"FRANCIS, CLEM HELP ME!"

Marion tried to go forward but she was knocked down to her knees by a villager. She was crying even harder now.

Sprout ignored her cries and he told the others to do the same.

"Do not listen to her, she is trying to bewitch you with her words, those children are of no threat to us. They are but witchlings, no realized or controlled power."

Sprout looked to where Dredd was and motioned for him to go in the direction that Marion was looking in. He started to walk in the direction, Clemmence was starting to panic, they weren't hidden amazingly, they would be spotted. As if he sensed her panic, Francis grasped Clemmence's hand; she looked at him he looked calm, as if he got so overwhelmed that he snapped and just became calm, she saw him start to blend into the tree branches and their leaves, she saw the change run from his eyes, covering his whole face, to his neck reaching his arms and hands. As the change reached his hands she saw it spread to hers as well; she too began to blend in. The change finished just as Dredd was reaching their location, they remained still, Clemmence didn't want to breath out of fear that Dredd would somehow hear her light breaths. She and Dredd made eye contact whether he knew or not, she saw how black his eyes were, like there was no life in them. He walked past them, looked around then walked back to Sprout. Clemmence kept looking in the direction Dredd had walked to, she turned when she felt Francis tugging on her arm so that they could go towards another tree.

When they got to the top of the tree they looked out just in time to see Sprout order Dredd to take Marion to the center of the pond. He said that the water would cleanse her of evil, he said that "cleanliness was next to godliness", jf she died while in the waters it meant that she was past the point of no return and that her soul would not be salvageable. As they reached the water's edge, Marion had struggled enough for Dredd's grip to loosen ever so slightly, she managed to yank her arms out of Dredd's hands with a loud crack. She screamed out in pain as she felt the horrible sensation run down her arms, and throughout her body, she fell to her knees catching herself with her hands, causing her to scream again; she looked up to the tree line and saw two pairs of bright eyes watching her. Marion was getting a surge of adrenaline, but those two pairs or eyes would be the last thing she saw.

Dredd struck her on the crown of her head with a rock, she fell limply to the side, eyes open, head in the water. The water was turning red.

Clemmence screamed.

Francis' concentration on the cloaking causing them both to be noticeable in the tree. He began to cry.

Hearing the scream Susanna perked up and stopped kicking, Edmund jolted from his mini-coma. They too began to scream, wanting to distract everyone from the tree line. It almost worked, but Sprout and Dredd would not look in their direction, they chose to walk towards the first scream they were met with a large stag charging at them. It took down Dredd by impaling him on his antlers, many other forest creatures began to flood into the clearing; squirrels and birds attacking the other villagers. Until Sprout got to his rock. And began to yell holding up a peculiar book.

"ENOUGH! I AM HERE TO CLEANSE THIS WORLD OF THOSE WHO WOULD TAINT THE SOULS OF HUMANITY, I TELL YOU MY FELLOWS IGNORE THESE PESTS THAT YOU SEE BEFORE YOU, THEY ARE BUT A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION, THEY CANNOT HURT YOU,"

He turned to the tree where Clemmence and Francis were huddling, and looked up at them, and smiled a creepy too wide smile.

"and cease their screaming its distracting."

The last Clemmence and Francis saw of their brother and sister was their panicked faces as the mob of villagers surrounded them. Both of their screams grew quiet at the same time. Clemmence screamed once again but this time she produced a force strong enough to blow Sprout off of his rock and onto his back; and to harshly blow the trees, the forest creatures in the clearing ran from the force. If Francis hadn't been holding onto Clemmence and part of their tree he would have fallen out.

Clemmence's eyes were beginning to glow a light violet. She turned her head towards Francis and said,

"I'll deal with this"

She jumped out of the tree stumbling slightly as she hit the ground, she straightened herself and began to walk towards Sprouts rock. She began to think.

She, Clemmence Baker is only a little older than Francis, but her soul at times seemed as old as the universe, making her seem cold and unrelentingly scary. At this point in her short life she learned that she was destined for tragedy. But she didn't agree with the hand destiny had dealt her so she would change it if she could, and that is what she was doing now. She reached Sprouts rock and climbed to the top of it and looked down at a stunned Sprout.

When Sprout realized the position he was is he started looking around wildly for Dredd, he saw him many feet away lying still in the grass, after he saw that he began to feel for what Clemmence guessed was the book he was holding earlier, when he got shoved off the rock it dropped onto its surface. She picked it up and saw Sprout visibly flinch.

"you thought we were monsters because of our abilities and knowledge given to us by the earth and the universe, yet you go and take power which was not yours to have and you force these people to darken their own souls beyond what can be fixed because you do not understand, if you want monsters I will give you monsters."

Clemmence rose her right hand toward the sky, it began to glow purple, tendrils of violet light started to lift from her hand to create a disc in the sky, it was framed by more tendrils of light creating designs around the disc.

"What a wonderful light show you have given us all my dear, but I see no monsters, save for you. And you have just shown yourself to your neighbors, look at the terror they hold in their eyes. And. Its. All. Because. Of. You."

While Sprout was talking he didn't see cones of light go down to each villager touching each of their foreheads, causing their eyes and mouths to fill with a bright light, making them fall to the ground, burnt. One by one they fell. People she once saw as friends and neighbors turned to a faceless mass. Once they all fell with their souls surrendered to the disc it left a scared shitless Sprout in the middle of it all. Clemmence lowered her hand the disc following, soon the center of the disk broke letting several shadowy figures stumble out, each resembled one of her now dead family members, but they all ran towards Sprout, and he began to scream in terror; those were quickly silenced. Clemmence turned and hopped off of the rock; leaving the portal open, she hadn't noticed a long dark shadow leave the portal. As she reached the tree where she and Francis had been hiding, she didn't see him in the tree, nor on the ground, she realized that she scared him away, leaving her alone.

 **A few centuries later…**

The clearing looked as if it had never been touched by any human or animal for that matter, the rock and pond were still there but four trees that had not been there before were there now, each in a cardinal direction, each a different species, a redwood, an oak, a birch and a pine. The portal still open, Beings from different universes stumbling out of it every once in a while, none knowing how they got there, or why they were there. No one ever notices the cottage that sits a short walk away from the clearing. Where a lone witch with a wide brimmed purple hat and bright green eyes lives, making sure that darkness is not amplified ever again.

(Authors Note: Clem's portal breaking and letting figures out is mirrored (heh) after the Mirror knight boss fight in dark souls 2)


	4. Penelope On High

Penelope on high

(A/N: there is some language in this chapter)

Penelope looked at the bar from her office, a floor above the main floor. After she had nearly felt like passing out in front of Alya when running down the stairs all the way from her office she decided that she wouldn't be out on the floor tonight, she wasn't worried about her workers they could handle themselves, plus the customers knew the rules; either you heard them from some one or you learned from experience, and learning from experience wasn't pretty.

The rules had evolved from when penelope first started the club; at first the rules were "don't harass the workers or else you'd get a stern talking to, and please no fights;" but when the club started to get noticed by shady groups more and more, enough to where those that frequented would see members of the rival groups and start fights or small skirmishes, both of those had caused penelope to start paying her security more so that they would be compensated for any injuries, but one night when a fight broke out, it was the first time a non-human had been involved with it.

 **Flashback**

All penelope heard was screams and crashing before she saw the body of one of her security guards come crashing through her office window, when he had landed she checked his pulse, luckily he was still alive, but he was just unconscious, she had stood up and had hit the house lights on her way to the window, the whole interior was now lit up as if it were an outdoor setting, she saw two figure in the center of the chaos that had become her club, a red haired woman dressed in a suit and someone else wearing a mask. Unbeknownst to Penelope the security guard that was behind her had woken up enough to get to the phone and call the police. At one point the red haired woman had thrown the masked person far enough away that they decide to run out the door, leaving the woman among their shared destruction.

The woman looked up, right into Penelope's eyes, and Penelope recognized the woman as Bloody Mary, The Big Boss; she began blushing. Penelope briefly saw panic flash through the other woman's eyes and as soon as she blinked though the woman was gone. She heard the labored breaths of the guard behind her, she turned and had started to move towards him but he began to speak,

"Nah boss, go check on everyone else" he managed to get himself into one of the office chairs.

"Where did they go?" She moved towards where she kept her first aid kit in her desk, she retrieved it, and brought it to him.

"M-most of 'em ran out the door when the fight started, but I think plenty of 'em got down to the locker rooms" he pulled the pain meds out of the kit and ate some of them with no water.

Penelope spoke in a calm soothing voice "Okay, i'll be back, hopefully before the cops get here."

The guard physically relaxed and got a dazed look on his face when she began speaking. Penelope straightened her clothes, turned, and walked towards the door of her office, when she walked out she fully assessed the damage to her club, she'd have to be closed for a few weeks, the more she thought about it the more she disliked her situation, she'd have to not pay her workers for those week she was closed for rebuilding, she could barely afford to fix her club.

When she got to the locker rooms she knocked on each door and said that everything was fine, one by one herworkers left the locker rooms, some covered various alcohols others had splinters from the tables covering them, some were bleeding, a few customers that hadn't been able to get out in time scurried ahead of the crowd, anxious to escape the scene. Penelope checked both locker rooms, all of the bathrooms for anyone else, she found nothing. By the time she got back up to the main floor the police had gotten there and were looking around, and she looked up towards the stairs to her office to see some paramedics helping the guard from earlier down the stairs. She followed them out the doors, and immediately she was found by the lead officer,

"Hi, we are going to need you to answer some questions about what you saw." the officer began leading Penelope to their police car.

"Of course" Penelope was starting to pick at her nails, she always did this when around police, or other figures of authority. The cop noticed this.

"You nervous?" they asked.

"Kind of? I'm sorry i always do this in certain situations, like this, it's stressful and gives me a bit of anxiety" she partially lied, she didn't want the cop to know it was because of the them. She caught a glimpse of their gun, her anxiety rose, but the cop did not notice that.

"Did you see who cause the destruction in the club?" the cop had pulled out a notepad.

"I-...I did not the flood lights hadn't turned on in time for me to see anything but the door close" Penelope couldn't get the image of the fear in Bloody Marys eyes out of her head, so she lied to the cop.

"Are you sure that's all you saw?" the cop looked at Penelope as if they knew she was lying, but she saw the cop glance somewhere behind her shoulder and they seemed to immediately back off

"A-alright miss, if we have any questions we will call." the copped got into their car and just sat there. Penelope thought this was odd because the cop never stopped staring forward, they didn't glance around for the minute she was standing there trying to figure out what had just happened. When she turned to leave penelope could have sworn she saw a glimpse of red hair in the shadows of the alleyway next to her club,she looked around to see if anyone was watching her, she then headed towards the alleyway. She saw nothing.

The next day when Penelope had gotten to the club, to begin cleaning, she saw a rather large group of people in overalls and long sleeve shirts. They were going to and fro their trucks to the inside of her club, some had brooms, others had what she was guessing was buckets of plaster, some had paint canisters, and others had new tables and chairs, a few of the workers were carrying in a new countertop for the bar the were shortly joined by some others bringing in a new base and then they were followed by crates of alcohol. When penelope pulled jaw off of the floor after seeing everyone fixing her place, she walked in and truly saw everything that was going on, she could tell, even through all of the renovations, that this place was going to look fancy, much more fancy than she could afford, she began to worry that this was going to be a debt she couldn't pay off. Amidst her worrying she also happened to notice that the door to her office was open, but it didn't look like any of the workers were currently up there, though on her way up she did notice that the window got re-paned. When she walked through the door she get the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, before her sat Bloody Mary in a big plush chair; the very woman who helped to wreck the club.

"Hello Penelope. I'm sorry about breaking into your club this early, i'll get the locks fixed for you…" Mary seemed uncomfortable in her chair.

"I- I uh… thanks? I think? I'm still angry about last night, but uh… this is a step. How much is this going to cost me Bloody Mary? Mary? Bm? Fuck." Penelope could feel her nerves rising, she couldn't talk her way out of this now if she tried.

"This is my apology for what happened, also i'm not mad but please don't call me Bloody Mary it's mostly just a stage name, ya know how it is; call me Morgana. I also have a business proposition for you." Morgana smiled at Penelope and motioned towards her chair silently asking her to sit down while she explained.

"M-may I ask what the fight was about last night or was it a spur of the moment type of thing? What kind of business proposition?" she could still feel the hairs on her neck standing tall, Penelope guessed that it's the feeling people get when near non-humans. Penelope took a moment to study Morgana, and what she saw matched what she had heard and seen on the news; the woman had bright un-naturally red curly hair that went down to her shoulders, her skin was a dark tan, with a few noticeable scars here and there, there were 3 prominent scars going from her hairline to her eyebrow, they looked like nail marks from a fight with someone with long nails, she was dressed in almost the same clothes as she had yesterday, but these were clean and had no tears in them, Penelope finally noticed the other woman's eyes looking at her intently, they were strange eyes, they looked red one moment and then brown the next, Penelope just chalked that up to a change in light (even though she was barely moving and the lights inside the office did not move.

Morgana cleared her throat.

"I have a guess what the fight was about but, they also could have been tracking me, probably hoping to get the jump on me. The business proposition has actually been brought up with a few different establishment owners around the downtown, but I have a good feeling about you," she smiled again. "Me and the other bosses want a void space, a space where we drop everything and act like normal people, no business could be conducted here, nor any gang related fights, kinda like the hotel in John Wick," Morgana pulled out several papers from a bad beside her that penelope hadn't even noticed. "You would still gain all money earned, we won't take any of it, and you'll even gain new customers. I know this seems sketchy, you seem to know about my history, of course everyone probably does with the news and narks, but still. I don't want you to feel obligated to say yes to this because of everything going on outside, im going to leave this here though, and i'm going to give you a week, if you want you could discuss it with your workers, but if you do I implore you to make sure that you really trust them with this information." she rose from her chair, and fixed her button up. Penelope stood up as well.

"Why here? Why me? Im sure there are many other hole-in-the-wall type places where you could go to. I-I mean i'm happy with the idea of more revenue and new customers, but I just want to know why." The hairs slacked.

Morgana smiled again. "Because, last night when the cop was asking you questions, you didn't tell them you saw me, already that's much better than a couple of the owners of those hole-in-the-wall places"

Morgana left the office; Penelope jumped out of her chair to watch Morgana, Bloody Mary, The Big Boss, the most terrifying of the gang bosses leave her club in a cloud of dust, literally.

 **End of flashback**

Nowadays Penelope's gotten better with being around non-humans, her hair doesn't stand up anymore, she's also gotten better about talking to and around Morgana. The club had been established as a null zone almost a decade ago, and she's enjoyed the peace of it, there were hardly any fights and if any occurred they were quickly shut down and separated. But as time went on Penelope learned that some members of the various groups had grown attached to the workers of the club, some were dancers, others bartenders or waitresses, some were even security. Penelope knew that there was only one person who seemed as attached to her as the others were to her workers and that was Morgana, Penelope was surprised about this when she had the revelation, but at first she worried that it was her voice that did it, it usually was a constant concern albeit it was usually in the back of her mind, sometimes her charisma spiked randomly without her knowing, but much to her eventual delight that was not the case Morgana wasn't under any sort of trance, she just liked being around her.

Tonight though Penelope observed the floor alone, Morgana had a meeting and wouldn't be able to make it that night to watch the triplets perform; but on the upside Ayla was working that night,

" _At the bar_ " she thought to herself. She could just call the bar to bring her something, but tonight was a rather busy one. She didn't know why it was and it kind of irked her because she would usually have heard of something happening through her grapevine by now, but she heard nothing. She got up out of her chair, she noticed it made a rather loud creaking sound, she looked back to her chair and noticed that the fabric was beginning to rise and shrink around the seams of the chair, she shrugged the chair wasn't snapped in half or literally falling apart just yet, she didn't need a new one. She left her office.

On her way down she saw many types of beings enjoying the space in her club; monsters, humans, the gang members that were off that night, they were all partying with each other as if they were old friend. When she reached the floor it's as if the people that were obstructing her path parted like the red sea in whichever direction she looked, all she wanted to do was to get to the bar and hopefully have a nice break from the paperwork that was waiting for her upstairs. The bar was crowded as expected but she didn't have to wait; she lifted the counter door so that she could get through and started to make herself a long island. When she finished, and turned away to leave the bar, she was met with the faces of Veronica and T.S, they were her right and left hands.

"Oh! Hi girls. How can i help you? Do you want something to drink or…?"

"Boss wants you up in your office, apparently she _really_ wants to talk to you. She's not panicked or anything so you don't have to worry, but if i were you i'd bring a bottle of booze." Veronica said, slightly smiling as she motioned her head up towards Penelope's office.

 **Penelope's Office**

Morgana paced back and forth in Penelope's brightly lit office; she was nervous about what she was about to do, it's not that she didn't want to ask Penelope out, she did, but she worried about what the other bosses would think, she worried about them taking advantage of Penelope or herself. Amidst her worrying she noted somewhere in her mind that what she was doing was odd, she's almost never been nervous, rarely in her original universe, and even more rarely here, even when the vigilante attacked she didn't feel anything. Penelope was the first in a while to make her feel something other than her usual unwavering confidence.

Morgana was too absorbed in herself to notice the metallic sound of footsteps on the stairs, what she did notice though was the bright flash of light coming from the direction of the woods, more specifically the portal; she couldn't think much more about the light because the office door opened, causing morgana eyes to meet Penelope's. With the help of the light she saw Penelope blush a bit. She felt her confidence coming back to her, until she saw the bottle of booze in Penelope's hand.

"Fuckin Veronica, giving people my weaknesses."Morgana smiled as she thought this. She watched Penelope walk to her chair and sit down, she then pulled out two glasses from one of the drawers on her desk, shes sure she's heard Penelope call them her "crystal" before, they both knew they came from the dollar store.

Penelope felt nervous, it was the first time in a while; she hadn't felt nervous around Morgana since they became friends, but she also felt like something had changed along the way. Morgana seemed like she was on edge, like she was on the cusp of asking something, but before she could open her mouth a loud bang resonated throughout the building, it was louder than the music. Both Penelope and Morgana looked at each other, and looked towards the window looking out to the bar floor, when they stood up screams were beginning to be heard. When they both reached the window to look out to the floor they could see a hoodie clad figure, and they both saw a flash of yellow,she recognized it as the other being that fought morgana on the first night they saw each other. Penelope looked over to Morgana, her jaw was clenched, but Penelope noticed big differences in how she looked; her hair had turned an even more vibrant red, and her eyes, oh her eyes, Penelope hadn't ever seen morgana's eyes like they were now, the skin around them had turned dark, and her cheeks looked sunk in, her eyes were glowing a bright red. Penelope had known Morgana wasn't human, but she didn't know it went this far, she had thought that maybe Morgana was like her, where she had a few abilities like inhuman strength and speed, but she would have never guessed that she was a ghoul.

Morgana seemed to realize what she had just done and looked to Penelope, when she turned her head, she saw shock and worry across the other woman's face, causing her to unclench her jaw and snarl in the direction of the masked vigilante currently ransacking her, as far as she knew, unrequited crushes bar. She threw the door open and charged through it, managing to jump over the railing and landing on the main floor successfully attracting the attention of the vigilante. Penelope had run out of the office after her, stopping at the railing. Morgana stood, both of them were staring at the other, sizing the other up. Morgana noticed that her opponent had upgraded since their last struggle, she had metal knee pads instead of the black plastic ones, same with the elbow pads, she noted that the others gloves has metal tips on the fingers and the knuckles of the gloves were the same; while those details could have been missed the ones that couldn't were the two swords peeking out from behind the other, and the yellow smiling mask with glowing white eyes. Morgana gould see why that would be terrifying to be accosted through a dark alleyway by, but she felt no fear, only rage.

Penelope tensley watched the two beings watching each other, and she vaguely noted to herself that the occupants of the bar were flooding out with the help of her staff. When she looked towards the door she saw Ayla looking around until their eyes met, Penelope nodded in assurance, unsure if Ayla could even see her strained smile through the dust in the air, Ayla nodded back and ran towards the group of patrons and employees outside the bar, presumably to wait for either the police or the backup from the mobs. She looked back just in time to see one of the other figures swords coming straight for her.

"FUCK" she managed to move away from the sword just in time, her dodge had nearly caused her to fall down the metal stairs. She looked back to the sword and found it deeply lodged in the wall, a large crack was stemming from where the sword was buried.

Morgana dared not look back in fear of getting herself and Penelope killed, so she continued to stare onward trying to figure out her best course of action; or she would have if her foe hadn't decided to talk in that moment, causing morgana's thoughts to stutter in their tracks.

"Well, this is a new sight to behold. I've seen you angry, furious, sad, and downtrodden; I've seen you at your lowest points, but I've never seen you scared, let alone, scared for someone else." their head tilted as they spoke.

Morgana tensed, she never remembered her foes voice sounding so cold and robotic.

"I've been lucky enough to meet someone I can be worried about, what about you, _Old Friend_ " Morgana sneered.

At Morgana's comment, the other went rigid. Despite their face being covered by the happy face mask, Morgana could tell that they were glaring at her thorough their mask. She prepared herself for the inevitable rage she was to be met with by the other.

She felt an impact. Had she not immediately grabbed on to the person, she would have been the only one on the floor. There were stars dancing in her eyes once her head hit the floor, but she managed to kick her opponent off and across the room. Morgana righted herself and lightly shook her head to get rid of the stars, the back of her head ached. And the skin under her eyes felt hotter, she could guess that she was starting to look more like she was crying blood, but that was just a guess.

Penelope saw Bloody Mary get tackled by the rude intruder, she also saw the front door open slightly and then quietly close. Penelope hoped it wasn't backup for the intruder, she looked at the sword embedded in her wall and decided she would try to help, she attempted to yank it out. It didn't budge, she tried again; if she hadn't been looking for any hope of it moving she wouldn't have noticed, so she tried again, and again, harder each time, when she started to feel exhausted she noticed she had, what she hoped was a majority of the sword out, she noted that these blades were more for function rather than fashion, which made sense. She felt the metal staircase shake, she looked down between the grating and saw that morgana had been thrown into the wall, Morgana looked up at Penelope. Penelope decided in that moment that if Morgana got through this fight, she was gonna smash that puss. Penelope yanked the sword free with one final tug, and threw the sword using both of her hands at the offending person, while they weren't stabbed, or slashed, like Penelope was hoping, but the sword did end up hitting the other in the face. Causing them to throw both of their hands up to their face and yell;

"MOTHERFUCKER" their voiced glitched, and finally the offenders true voice came through, causing Penelope to figure they were female, but she could be wrong.

" _Just because they sound it doesn't mean they are Penelope"_ she thought to herself.

Morgana could hardly be seen in the next moment, she moved to quickly for penelope's eyes to keep up, but the next thing she saw was Morgana straddling her opponents and pummeling them, she thought that her knuckles would hurt from hitting the mask, but she figured it was the adrenaline. When Penelope realized that Morgana had stopped punching, she noticed her jaw moving like she was speaking, but no sound could be heard, almost like her brain was blocking out what was being said, she noticed the figure on the ground start shaking as if they were laughing, and then they both made eye contact, the person smiled at Penelope, and she realized she recognized the offender, Penelope's eyes widened as they lifted their free hand and held a single gloved finger in front of their mouth, shushing her. Morgana frowned as she noticed gold streak through her opponents eyes, then she realized whomst she was looking at, and whipped her monstrous looking head towards Penelope in time to see a golden line zig zag across her lips as if they were being zipped closed, then her own eyes widened as she looked back to her opponent, she was met with a smug smile,

"Bet you thought you could get rid of me easily now bi-" they weren't able to complete the insult before Morgana could knock them out, with one punch.

Penelope decided that was hot, and that she was officially a monster fucker after tonight. She decided that it was safe enough to leave the platform, she also needed to assess the damage done to her bar. Morgana met her halfway though, and they both stared at each other, and Penelope was about to speak, but not before a team of officers rushed in, a few had their guns aimed at Morgana until a voice rang through the room,

"Put down your guns officers, I've seen enough to know Bloody Mary here isn't the Initiator of this brawl" Morgana looked over to see Lieutenant Yue by the bathrooms.

Lieutenant Yue was a tall Chinese woman, who as far as Morgana knew could not be paid off. The lieutenant wore a black pantsuit and a pair of sensible black shoes. Her black hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, the only noticeable makeup on her was the black liner around her eyes. Her hands were on her hips , pulling her jacket out of the way of her badge on her belt. Lt. Yue looked at Penelope,

"I'm going to need you to take a few steps away from her. I know you're not in any danger coming from her, but it's the rules." Lt. Yue walked closer. Penelope rose both of her hands and took 1 step back, and looked at Morgana, and then back at Lt. Yue, at this point officers had let in paramedics in to get the unconscious body lying in the middle of the bar on a gurney and out the door, one of the other cops tossed Lt. Yue a blanket, she then handed it to Morgana, She looked at it questioningly, Lt. Yue sighed,

"You beasted out more than usually, so your shirt and pants are a little fucked." she said plainly; Morgana looked down and made a sound of agreement, she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders so that it looked like a cloak and Penelope grabbed her arm and started to pull Morgana towards the locker rooms saying that she thinks theres some clothes that would fit her in there.

Lieutenant Yue lightly smiled and shook her head, she headed towards the door. Once outside she saw the crowd of employees and patrons waiting to know about their boss, and the _boss_ that were in there, she told them everything was fine and that they shouldn't worry, and to go home; everyone mostly dispersed, some stayed behind to either finish statements, or to get back in the building to retrieve some personals. Lt. Yue walked back to her car and got into the driver's seat, she pulled her cell phone out, selecting the Captains number and sending one text,

" _Ms. Smiley had been apprehended"_

It was roughly 3:30 am when Ayla got back to her apartment, at that moment all she wanted to do was collapse on her bed, there had been too much excitement this morning for her liking, her plan though was foiled when she felt a the presence of V behind her.

" _Your back later than usual Ayla; Casie 'woke up' twice while you were gone"_

"At least she didn't follow the rule of threes" her back was to V

" _Ayla please; both times she woke up was within the same hour. And I swear both times it got so dark in there I was the source of light, that's bad, like really bad Ayla please, you need to tell her the rest of the story"_

Ayla let out a heavy breath while she grabbed the heart locket from her pocket, she placed it back on her neck. Casie was getting to the same age Ayla was when she started showing signs of inhumanness, She just wanted Casie to have a normal childhood, she was hoping it skipped a generation.

The lights in the apartment flickered to life, brightened for a few seconds then dimmed to nothingness again, plunging the apartment interior back into blackness. Ayla sighed again as she gripped the locket in her hand.

" _3… Ayla ple-"_

"I know, and I will… jus- just let me sleep, and I'll figure something out, _good morning_ V" she walked on into her room.

If V had any physical lungs he would have sighed, but he found no point in doing so, since Ayla would have been the only one to hear it. The lights flickered,

" _4"_ V said to himself. He heard a light "fuck" come from Aylas room.


End file.
